We like a lot of the same things. I sometimes think happy endings aren't true to real life. A lot of my favourite books (The Unbearable Lightness of Being, The Trial, One Hundred Years of Solitude, Catcher in the Rye, Breakfast of Champions, The Road) don't end happily. Same with films (Requiem for a Dream, Breaking the Waves, Merci la Vie, Noce Blanche).
Then there are books and films which play with the ending. Irreversible, for instance, which has a happy ending because it's told in reverse and that's really the beginning. The ending, which we started with, is as bad as it gets. Or A Prayer For Owen Meany which has a tragic ending which somehow manages to be uplifting in that everything happens for a reason. Or Catch-22; is that a happy ending or not? Or Chronicle of a Death Foretold where you know just from the title how it's going to end. You're also told details throughout the book until the only thing left to happen is what you always knew would happen. Tragically, unfairly, and unfortunately.
One of my favourite books, English Passengers, has some well-regarded people (scientists and priests) being rather shitty to each other for the entirity of the book against a backdrop of people who are supposed villains (smugglers). The scientist in particular acts thoroughly immorally and while he doesn't get his happy ending, the beautiful sense of justice does make me feel happier than if he'd merely been nasty and got away with it (others in the book, however, do and that's why I like it. The happy ending for the reader is the only happy ending in a book full of endings that aren't really deserved, including a near-complete genocide).
To finally answer your question, some films/books can't have happy endings and if they did, I would feel disgusted (as you mentioned). But there are those where, while I don't want a happy ending, I want people to get what's coming to them (like in Hitchcock's "Rope") but then there are certain actors (Jimmy Stewart, who was in Rope springs immediately to mind) who you want to see win. Bananaface has already mentioned It's A Wonderful Life (it had to end the way it did) but also, say, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, which has an interesting ending. So, no, they don't always disgust me. But I definitely prefer a more downbeat ending.
Thank you very much for your elaborated and thoughtful comment. I see your point and I agree with you. By the way, you have just given me great tips and inspiration when it comes to the books I want to read in near future. Thanks also for that:)
As for the books you mentioned, may I just add my random thoughts?
-The Unbearable Lightness of Being. This is something that makes me feel ashamed: I have been thinking about reading it for years and it is a shame I have not read it yet. I am twice as ashamed also because Kundera is very close to my culture. I am from Slovakia, born in Czechoslovakia... I hope that I will read it in 2013:)
-The Trial. ...Simply perfect, right now I have Kafka´s short prose on my desk and I have to read some parts of it over and over again.
-The Road - do you mean The Road by Cormac McCarthy? If yes, I agree, it is a great book. I have read only some of his books and I am planning to read more because I love some aspects of his style.
When it comes to Czech books: did you have the chance to read Too Loud a Solitude by Bohumil Hrabal? Another perfect example of something that I like:)
And my last question - have you read Kafka´s novel America or sometimes translated as The Man Who Disappeared? If yes, do you consider its ending a happy ending or not? I know it is his unfinished work but I mean the ending of the book as it is published. I enjoyed this book and now it really does not matter to me whether its ending should be interpreted as happy or not:), I am just curious how people interpret its ending. Anyway, it was probably not an ending at all, Kafka would probably change something or add more chapters.
I meant to mention it (and forgot) but I kind of took your post as a recommended reading list too. I haven't read any Philip Roth but our tastes are so similar, you made me think about seeing whether he's available for Kindle.
The Unbearable Lightness of Being is a fantastic book. I won't ruin it for you by mentioning anything much about it but it had a big impact on me. Kundera is a very good writer.
The Trial had such an impact on me, it changed my mental state (sadly for the worse but I got over it). No book has ever had that power over me before. Kafka is an astonishing writer. Oh, and yes, I did mean Cormac McCarthy's book (haven't seen the film, although I may do).
I haven't read any Hrabal despite yours being the third recommendation (someone told me to read Letters to Dubenka, and I'd need to go and search to remember the other recommendation). I'm looking for new books at the moment so I think I'll finally get to read Hrabal.
Sadly haven't read America (I veered away from Kafka after he affected me so much). I've only read The Trial, Metamorphosis and the short stories which are usually in the same volume as Metamorphosis.
Thanks for the recommendations, though. I have a feeling I'll like them. I think you'll enjoy The Unbearable Lightness of Being too. Until I started thinking about it just now, I hadn't realised that this book comes out in some of my answers on IIN. It helped formed my opinions.
Disgusted by happy endings?
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We like a lot of the same things. I sometimes think happy endings aren't true to real life. A lot of my favourite books (The Unbearable Lightness of Being, The Trial, One Hundred Years of Solitude, Catcher in the Rye, Breakfast of Champions, The Road) don't end happily. Same with films (Requiem for a Dream, Breaking the Waves, Merci la Vie, Noce Blanche).
Then there are books and films which play with the ending. Irreversible, for instance, which has a happy ending because it's told in reverse and that's really the beginning. The ending, which we started with, is as bad as it gets. Or A Prayer For Owen Meany which has a tragic ending which somehow manages to be uplifting in that everything happens for a reason. Or Catch-22; is that a happy ending or not? Or Chronicle of a Death Foretold where you know just from the title how it's going to end. You're also told details throughout the book until the only thing left to happen is what you always knew would happen. Tragically, unfairly, and unfortunately.
One of my favourite books, English Passengers, has some well-regarded people (scientists and priests) being rather shitty to each other for the entirity of the book against a backdrop of people who are supposed villains (smugglers). The scientist in particular acts thoroughly immorally and while he doesn't get his happy ending, the beautiful sense of justice does make me feel happier than if he'd merely been nasty and got away with it (others in the book, however, do and that's why I like it. The happy ending for the reader is the only happy ending in a book full of endings that aren't really deserved, including a near-complete genocide).
To finally answer your question, some films/books can't have happy endings and if they did, I would feel disgusted (as you mentioned). But there are those where, while I don't want a happy ending, I want people to get what's coming to them (like in Hitchcock's "Rope") but then there are certain actors (Jimmy Stewart, who was in Rope springs immediately to mind) who you want to see win. Bananaface has already mentioned It's A Wonderful Life (it had to end the way it did) but also, say, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, which has an interesting ending. So, no, they don't always disgust me. But I definitely prefer a more downbeat ending.
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prasatko
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Thank you very much for your elaborated and thoughtful comment. I see your point and I agree with you. By the way, you have just given me great tips and inspiration when it comes to the books I want to read in near future. Thanks also for that:)
As for the books you mentioned, may I just add my random thoughts?
-The Unbearable Lightness of Being. This is something that makes me feel ashamed: I have been thinking about reading it for years and it is a shame I have not read it yet. I am twice as ashamed also because Kundera is very close to my culture. I am from Slovakia, born in Czechoslovakia... I hope that I will read it in 2013:)
-The Trial. ...Simply perfect, right now I have Kafka´s short prose on my desk and I have to read some parts of it over and over again.
-The Road - do you mean The Road by Cormac McCarthy? If yes, I agree, it is a great book. I have read only some of his books and I am planning to read more because I love some aspects of his style.
When it comes to Czech books: did you have the chance to read Too Loud a Solitude by Bohumil Hrabal? Another perfect example of something that I like:)
And my last question - have you read Kafka´s novel America or sometimes translated as The Man Who Disappeared? If yes, do you consider its ending a happy ending or not? I know it is his unfinished work but I mean the ending of the book as it is published. I enjoyed this book and now it really does not matter to me whether its ending should be interpreted as happy or not:), I am just curious how people interpret its ending. Anyway, it was probably not an ending at all, Kafka would probably change something or add more chapters.
Thanks again for your previous comment.
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dappled
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I meant to mention it (and forgot) but I kind of took your post as a recommended reading list too. I haven't read any Philip Roth but our tastes are so similar, you made me think about seeing whether he's available for Kindle.
The Unbearable Lightness of Being is a fantastic book. I won't ruin it for you by mentioning anything much about it but it had a big impact on me. Kundera is a very good writer.
The Trial had such an impact on me, it changed my mental state (sadly for the worse but I got over it). No book has ever had that power over me before. Kafka is an astonishing writer. Oh, and yes, I did mean Cormac McCarthy's book (haven't seen the film, although I may do).
I haven't read any Hrabal despite yours being the third recommendation (someone told me to read Letters to Dubenka, and I'd need to go and search to remember the other recommendation). I'm looking for new books at the moment so I think I'll finally get to read Hrabal.
Sadly haven't read America (I veered away from Kafka after he affected me so much). I've only read The Trial, Metamorphosis and the short stories which are usually in the same volume as Metamorphosis.
Thanks for the recommendations, though. I have a feeling I'll like them. I think you'll enjoy The Unbearable Lightness of Being too. Until I started thinking about it just now, I hadn't realised that this book comes out in some of my answers on IIN. It helped formed my opinions.